About
My interests centre around contemporary issues and themes in democratic governance and public policy. My research is generally qualitative and interpretive in nature. I have a particular interest in the following topics: deliberative democracy in theory and practice; bureaucratic encounters and policy feedback; democratic innovation and citizen engagement in the policy process; policy learning and the role of expertise in democratic politics; court politics in executive government; the politics of public health policy and social policy; and interpretive and qualitative research methods in the social sciences.
Research
Research groups
Current research
I am currently working on three main projects at various stages of development:
Magical Thinking in Public Policy (OUP)
Drawing on in-depth case studies of initiatives to promote evidence-based policymaking, long-term prevention, collaboration, transparency and citizen engagement, I peer beneath the apparent 'magical thinking' that sustains enthusiasm for these ideals despite repeated experiences of frustration and failure in practice. Ultimately, I argue that 'magical thinking' in practice is much more rational and generative than growing cynicism in policy studies would suggest, and that policy actors persist stoically in support of these ideals because doing so helps them to reconcile and mitigate key dilemmas and challenges in their everyday work.
Weapons of the Meek: Everyday Acts of Administrative Resistance (funded by Leverhulme Research Fellowship)
Despite innovation to address ailing trust in politics, democratic reformers ignore the most common way that marginalized citizens encounter the state: in the frontline implementation of laws, policies and services. We know citizens are not meek targets of state action. Ethnographic studies across health, education, planning and policing, reveal subtle forms of agency on the frontline, as citizens evade or challenge authorities. But what do these acts of resistance entail, and what are the impacts for trust in democratic institutions? I provide the first comprehensive analysis of citizen encounters across disciplines, sectors and jurisdictions to inform ideas about democratic renewal.
Lessons for Governing (ESRC Impact Acceleration Award with Jess Smith, Jack Corbett, R. A. W. Rhodes and Dan Devine)
We are working with the Institute for Government on analysing their Ministers Reflect archive. Ministers Reflect is a source of rare interpretive insight into the heart of British government, with an archive of over 100 semi-structured interviews with former Ministers in British government. The research team will draw on expertise in political ethnography and gender analysis to subject the archive to rigorous scholarly analysis for the first time. The award will also enable them to link emerging insights to existing expertise in executive government, and promote key lessons for governing in Britain.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Biography
I am a Professor in Politics and Public Policy and Deputy Head of School for Research for the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences. I have been at Southampton since 2013, where I was appointed after completing my PhD at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
My research centres around questions of deliberative democracy, democratic governance, public policy and administration. I have published over 40 articles and 5 monographs in top journals and presses. This body of work provides an original perspective on practical efforts to make the policy process more deliberative and democratic, and has helped shape the agenda for democratic renewal and reform in the UK and beyond. The best examples are my books Magical Thinking in Public Policy (2023) and, with Carolyn Hendriks and Selen Ercan, Mending Democracy (2020).
I am also at the forefront of efforts to improve the rigour and relevance of interpretive research methods in political science. I have taught advanced methods courses at flagship summer schools across the UK, Europe and the US. With colleagues Rod Rhodes and Jack Corbett, I published The Art and Craft of Comparison in Cambridge University Press's prestigious Strategies for Social Inquiry series.
My most recent work brings these strands together, pioneering the approach of meta-ethnography in public administration and political science. The focus of the project, funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, is How Citizens Encounter the Democratic State (in press with OUP).
Prizes
- Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2024)
- Ken Young Best Paper Prize (2018)
- Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2024)
- Ken Young Best Paper Prize (2018)